boy pirates

This was my favorite snap from Thanksgiving weekend. "Social gathering snapshots" don't always turn out all that well for me. Since I like natural light, but I have a hard time getting people to sit still for the slow shutter speed. Gotta get me a faster lens, I guess. All the boys gathered for Thanksgiving dinner (on the day after Thanksgiving) headed outside to be pirates while the adults sat around digesting dinner so we could dig into the pies. Sometimes I wish I had been a little boy. They just seem to have so much fun.


See? She doesn't look like she's having fun at all.

Actually, this little one was sweet. Awake and alert and just pretty content. It's so fun to have friends having babies.

my daily commute

I am now working in the same zip code as I live, and It's a beautiful thing.

My morning commute consists of a stroll down tree-lined streets while enjoying mansions, cafes, shops, museums and antiques dealers along the way. These first couple of weeks, I've been shuffling through puddles of bright yellow leaves and enjoying the sight of the crumpled faces of jack-o-lanterns put out to the curb. I've had some blue & white sky mornings and some misty evenings.

There are some beautiful sights along the way.






My new work space is even better than I was imagining. We're having fun moving things around, arranging and rearranging spaces, scavenging in the storage room for things to repurpose, and even doing some yard-sale shopping for some final touches.


I love it that I can walk two blocks and have my choice of about 10 different places to get a good lunch. This is also a dangerous thing! I think I'm going to have to put myself on a lunch budget. I love it that it's an "easy" 40 minutes of exercise a day. I really really enjoy being out in the air…not filtered or heated or cooled or flavored, but just the air (okay, there's some exhaust fumes in there, but it's not that bad on this particular walk!).

I'm liking this change very much.


edit: okay, I found a drawback to commuting on foot: take one large city bus, one smallish-sized puddle and one pedestrian wanting to cross the road and you get one rather wet pedestrian. it's one of those things you laugh at when you see it in the movies…not so funny when it's ME!

first frost

I'm glad I am forced to be up early at least one day a week. It's such a peaceful thing to be up before most of the rest of the city…and it doesn't happen often with me!

Early on Sunday I drove past a magical fog on the Erie canal on my way to church. Frost had covered everything in the night, and sharply defined each blade of grass and stalk of underbrush all along the roadsides. The trees had blanketed the ground with color on top of the frost. I had to scrape off my windshield for the first time this season.

I know way more people who groan at the first frost than welcome it. But I love the changing of the seasons. Each has its own attraction for me. And I just wish I had my camera and some time yesterday morning so I could share it.

Aaron & Sue

Things I loved about Sue & Aaron's wedding:

1. The great colors in the flower arrangements. My favorite orange roses were featured prominently in the bouquets.

2. They kissed every time the forks chimed against the glasses...no complaining even once!

3. It was clear that these two are much loved in their families & church community. The flower girl sobbed her eyes out the whole way back down the aisle, hating the thought of the bride moving away.

4. I'm always on the lookout for an alternative to the unity candle...that part of the ceremony has never really thrilled my soul. Sue & Aaron signed the marriage certificate as part of the ceremony instead of doing a unity candle. I've been to weddings where the signing was almost forgotten!

5. The musicians, and the song they picked. I wish I could remember what the song was, because it was a beautiful one worshiping Jesus.

6. When the groomsmen decorated the car, they wrote "tonite's the nite!" on it. Not to be crass, by any means, and not to be harsh on those who didn't do things this way, but I'm always encouraged to find that there are couples who are saving the best gift of all for after the marriage covenant. Too often, the marriage ceremony changes nothing…it just gives a piece of paper and allows the couple to share health insurance. I firmly believe that the Lord blesses a commitment to purity…both before and after marriage.

7. The spontaneous expressions of excitement between the bride & her maids...this was one happy wedding!

beauty in dying

I am drawn to rusty surfaces, weathered wood, worn stone, old brick. I am fascinated by abandoned buildings, and love to explore them and speculate on why they have been forsaken. I find beauty in the natural decay of things.

(Not, mind you, rotting vegetables in my crisper drawer, and cheese in my milk jug!)

But rusty surfaces on train cars, and worn-off paint on barns, leaves drying up and queen-anne's lace turning from feathery green and white to crispy brown…these things hold my eye. Even, yes, cracked window panes caked with years of grime.

Fall is my favorite season.

I love the beauty of these months of dying.